


A Gengar's Loss

by Ariissorry



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team & Blue Rescue Team
Genre: Angst, Child Death, Child Loss, Hurt No Comfort, Ninetails is an ass, Parent-Child Relationship, Uncle-Niece Relationship, fuck you ninetails, fuck you ninetails you suck, still tho, there are two sides to every story of course, though I'm sure to ninetails the same can be said about Gengar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 23:26:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19119871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariissorry/pseuds/Ariissorry
Summary: As a human, Gengar wasn't merely a selfish theif who cared only for himself. And abandoning his partner wasn't a heartless act of self-preservation. No, every action of his was done in protection of something. Someone. There's a reason he was so harsh to a human-turned-pokemon and her partner. The may have reminded him a little too much of a child he used to know.





	A Gengar's Loss

"Uncle, do you and Gardevoir have to go?" Shadow blinked up at him with her sweet, pale blue eyes.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but we do. It's the only way we can bring back food." Bramble replied.

"But don't you steal a lot of things? And isn't stealing bad?" She asked innocently. "It makes people really sad!"

"It's the only way we can survive, little purrloin. I can't find any work and I gotta find a way to put food on the table for you and Gardevoir." He explained.

"You're so strong, uncle." His niece replied. "When mommy passed away, and you lost your job, you kept taking care of me, instead of being too sad. Even though she was your sister and you knew her longer than me, you stayed tough and didn't cry a lot like I did."

Bramble felt a pang of greif shoot through him at the mention of his younger sister's untimely death, but quickly shoved it away, attempting to stay strong for shadow.

"That's because it was my job. I'm the only person left to care for you, so I had to be strong." He replied.

"Someday, I wanna be strong just like you, uncle!" Shadow exclaimed.

A surge of pride struck him at the idea of his niece looking up him. He kneeled down closer to the young child's height.

"I'm sure you will be someday, little purrloin." Bramble reached out and ruffled her purple hair, the shade of it being what had earned her the nickname, along with her ability to sneak around. "Me and Gardevoir have to go, now. We heard about a whole hoard of treasure! Wouldn't it be amazing if we could dig it up? Think of everything we could buy with that. We'd have a huge feast!"

A wide smile spread across Shadow's face.

"And then me, you, and Gardevoir can all move into a better house! And you won't have to steal anymore, uncle!" She chattered excitedly.

"I wouldn't now, would I? We'd have so much money!" Bramble replied.

Shadow ran to give Gardevoir one last hug, the Pokemon returning the embrace fondly. She turned to her uncle a final time, wrapping her arms around his legs.

"Please come  back soon, okay?" She pleaded.

"I promise we'll be home before sundown, Shadow." Bramble replied. "And remember, if you hear anyone coming, hide in one of the spots I showed you. And don't come out, no matter what they say to you, okay kid? There are very bad people in this world."

"Don't worry, uncle!" Shadow reassured him. "I'll hide, and won't come back out no matter what!"

"Atta girl." He replied. Bramble planted a last kiss on her forehead before turning the knob to the front door. "I love you, little purrloin."

He called "I love you too, uncle! And you, Gardevoir! Come back soon!" Came her response.

"We will, I promise."

Bramble arrived at the supposed spot the hoard of gems was rumoured to be. He and Gardevoir trudged through the heavy snow and into the ice cavern. After a while, the narrow tunnel began to widen. It suddenly swerved, leading him to a room full of hundreds of priceless, dazzling stones. He smiled, in awe of his luck.

However, he spotted something that quickly stopped him in his tracks. Nine fluffy tails sticking out in front of the entrance to the cavern. Upon further inspection, he caught sight of a large ninetails curled up in a small alcove, fast asleep. He silently made his way over the ninetails and into the room, signaling for Gardevoir to do the same. It would be more riskier to steal all the treasures with the ninetails present, but they would take the risk.

This was all for his niece, after all. Imagining her look of sheer joy gave Bramble the strength to keep going. After filling up a bag up with as many stones as it could hold, he set to drag it off and hide it somewhere, returning to the cave a few more times. However, as he and Gardevoir attempted to silently creep away, Bramble slid on a piece of ice, falling right onto one of the ninetail's tails, and pulling on it to help himself up, without even thinking. Immediately after, he was struck with the gravity of what he'd done. The ninetails awoke, swiftly turning its head to Bramble and snarling.

"You! You awoke me from my slumber, human!" It accused.

"It wasn't on purpose!" Bramble tried frantically to cover for himself. "I'm sorry, okay?"

It stepped from out of its den, now standing in front of Bramble, bearing its fangs menacingly as it further inspected the duo.

"Oh, and you're attempting to steal from me too, I see?" It caught sight of the bag slung over Bramble's shoulder.

"It's not what you think!" He retaliated. "I had no idea it was yours!"

"LIAR!" The ninetails now shook with rage. "Why else would I make my den so near to all this treasure if it didn't belong to me? That poor gardevoir of yours! She deserves so much better than you! Honestly, dragging an innocent pokemon into your thievery! You humans are horrible creatures! The whole lot of you!" It wore a look of disgust.

The ninetails paused for a second before continuing its rant.

"I think you need to be taught a lesson." Its voice sounding dangerous, laced with hatred. " **One you'll never forget**."

The ninetails lunged forward, pinning Bramble to the ground. He found himself unable to retaliate, the air knocked out of his lungs. The ninetails drew back a massive paw and prepared to strike Bramble with it. However, just before it came down on him, Gardevoir threw herself in front of him. The Pokemon fell to the ground, unconscious.

Bramble rushed over to his pokemon, ignoring the searing pain in his chest. Her heart continued to beat, yet nothing seemed to wake her. He turned to the ninetails.

"What the hell have you done?!" He exclaimed.

Regret showed in the ninetails' expression.

"This wasn't meant to happen. Not to her, anyway." It spoke. It looked down at Gardevoir with sympathy, before turning to Bramble. "Would you like to take her place? To save your companion?"

Bramble bolted from the cave, paying no mind to the sudden gasp behind him. He would miss Gardevoir immensely. She was like a sister to him.  But his niece came first. He had to stay alive.

He was the only one who could provide for his niece, the most important thing in his life.

_I'm sorry, Gardevoir._

Whatever Ninetails had done to poor Gardevoir, Bramble couldn't let it be done to him. He raced back to his house as fast as he could, feeling an unexplainable sense of dread and worry. Upon arriving, Bramble immediately realized something was off. The front door, it was cracked open. Cold anxiety struck Bramble as the possibilities swarmed inside his head.

Shadow knew better than to venture out of the house alone. And the indents in the deep snow were way to big for her tiny feet. Heart feeling as though it were going to explode, Bramble entered the door.

"Shadow!" He called. "Shadow! Where are you?!"

His eyes caught on a trail of blood leading upstairs, turning  his blood to ice. Trembling, he ascended the staircase. He prayed to every god he knew that he wouldn't be faced with his darkest of fears. Yet, as he climbed high enough to see the second floor, it seemed quite unlikely that he wouldn't be. He spotted the silhouette of a tiny form laying on its side, laying in a pool of liquid.

"Sh-shadow?" Bramble asked weakly, hoping by some impossible miracle the child would have just been hiding this whole time, and pop out upon seeing her uncle.

"Shadow, please answer me!" Tears threatened to spill from his eyes when he again heard no response.

At an incredibly slow pace, Bramble crept up the rest of the steps. He suddenly froze in horror as he was finally able to see the form fully. Nothing could have ever prepared him for it. There, bathed in the weak evening light, lay Shadow. His niece.

A huge gash opened above her left  and trailed all the way down to her right ankle. Shadow's jaw was twisted and out of joint, her intestines hung out, blood still pooling out of her tiny body. She was drenched in crimson. Blood flowed from her mouth as well, indicating she was bleeding internally. Her eyes were wide open, rolled back into her head, a look of sheer horror frozen on her face, and her right leg was twisted in a way that she'd probably never be able to wallk right again, even if she had survived.

The tears Bramble had been holding back now poured from his eyes.  Shadow always wore a ribbon around her neck, with a tiny bell hanging from it. The ribbon had been slashed through, the bell now stained with blood, lying across the cold wood floor. Bramble collapsed to his knees in front of the child who he'd raised for so many years, letting out a wail of pure agony. He pulled her broken body onto his lap, staring down at her tear-stained face.

Bramble cradled the child close to his chest, continuing to sob, and began to gently rock her bloody form, the rocking coming so natural since he always did it to comfort Shadow after she'd had a nightmare. Only this time he was the one who'd had to live out his worst fears. And this wasn't a dream, no matter how much Bramble wished it was. Blood soaked his clothes, but Bramble didn't care anymore. In one day, he'd failed all three of the ones he loved most.

He'd broken his promise to his sister to take good care of her child, he'd abandoned Gardevoir to face who knows what all alone, and then there was Shadow. Bramble had failed her as an uncle. He let her die a horrible, painful death.

 _She must have been so scared..._ Bramble thought.

Whatever cruel bastard had done this, they would **pay**. And Bramble would make sure of that. He directed his gaze back down to Shadow's mangled form. He ought to go burry her, he decided. It was the least he could do.

He lifted her light body up and trudged out through the snow. In the corner of his eye he caught a speck of orange and was soon greeted by his childhood friend Thistle, currently on the other side of a thick bush.

"Oh, hello!" Thistle greeted, smile turning into a confused frown as his old friend didn't even stop to look at him.

"Hello?" He continued to follow Bramble.

"You don't look very good," Thistle continued. "You okay?"

He crawled through an opening in the dense leaves coming out on Bramble's side. Thistle gasped as he caught sight of his friend holding Shadow's mutilated form.

"Oh! What happened?!" He questioned anxiously. Bramble broke into a run. "Wait!" Thistle called, but Bramble payed no heed.

He kept on running, untill he came to a clearing surrounded by pine trees. It would make a decent place to lay Shadow to rest, Bramble decided. He dug for several hours, until he had finnaly dug a deep enough hole so that a pokemon couldn't dig up the grave. He placed Shadow's small form in the hole, before recovering it with snow. Bramble stayed for several hours, greiving.

After that Bramble wandered aimlessly. He couldn't go back to his house. Brought back too many bad memories. He had nothing left. It was a few days later when he caught sight of the ninetails again. It snarled, and made its way over to him in a few bounds.

"There you are, coward!" It growled. "I've been waiting for you to come back and face your punishment like an adult, not a frightened pup."

"You have no idea what **fuck** the I've just been through." Bramble snapped back.

"Well, whatever happened, you deserved it." The ninetails repled.

This set something off in Bramble. How could this ninetails just sit here and tell him his niece deserved to die? It hadn't cared for her all these years! It had no idea what Bramble was going through.

"You mother fucker!" Bramble lunged forward, blinded by fury, and flug humself onto the ninetails, ripping out a handful of its fur, and sinking his teeth into its flesh.

It yelped and effortlessly threw Bramble off of its now bleeding side. It dug its claws into his throat before Bramble even had a chance to pick himself back up. Scarlet now poured from his open wound, drenching the snow in red. Bramble was going to die soon now, he knew it. And he welcomed it.

"I shall punish you severely for your foolishness!" The ninetails hissed, standing ovet Bramble. "After you die, you'll wake up in a completely different world, in an entirely different body! You need to learn that pokemon aren't expendable! You need to know what its like to be one!"

Bramble's vision faded to black. And that's the true reason Gengar became a pokemon.


End file.
